0 Baby Shower Daisy Cake

My friend just adopted a cute little girl that they named Daisy. To celebrate I made a Daisy cake for her baby shower. I did a butter cake with homemade strawberry jam for the filling, iced with a lemon buttercream. I was very happy with how it turned out, and just a little sad that I actually couldn't be there for the shower. (I had to leave for San Diego for my brother-in-law's wedding and to make the wedding cake.)

0 Father's Day Scrabble Cake

For my husband this year, I surprised him with a "Scrabble Cake." I actually just made rice crispy treats, since he is not a huge fan of cake, iced it in a thin layer of vanilla frosting, then covered it in fondant. I used chicklets for the scrabble tiles and Reeses PB whoppers for part of the border along the lower edge. It was really fun to plan out and decorate. It was fun on Father's day morning to see the shocked look on his face when he walked into the kitchen. Since I love scrabble, I sure had a good time making this surprise for him.

0 Graduation Chocolates

My brother Doug is finishing up his residency in ENT at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and while I was out there visiting them and watching their kids for a few days while he and Nicky went to a conference in Arizona, I decided to try a little treat craft with my niece and nephew that they could give to their dad when he got home. They are little graduation chocolates that I saw on Bakerella's blog. She used Reese's Peanut Butter cups, Godiva chocolates, and Air Head Xtremes, using a little melted chocolate candy coating to glue everything together.

We actually got the carmel filled cups (I think that it is the Sam's choice brand) that Walmart carries in the candy aisle due to my nieces peanut butter allergy, and 2 kinds of the Ghiradelli chocolates (the ones with little krispies in it didn't work as well because they have a bumpy tecture--oops). We had a fun time making them, and the kids were SO excited to give them to their dad. Congratulations on finishing your residency, Doug!

0 Birthday Brownies

I thought that I'd try something a little bit different for my friend Tosha's birthday. Instead of cake, I made little brownie birthday cakes. They were a lot of fun to do, although I have found that working with brownies is a little more difficult than cake because they tear so much. Next time I think that I'll try making a more cake-like brownie by adding in that extra egg the recipe says to do for that particular consistency. It might be easier to work with. We'll see.

0 Flan Cake for Cinco de Mayo

Here is a fun cake that I made for Cinco de Mayo. It is a recipe that I got while serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Laredo, Texas from Lupita Santoyo. Lupita would make this for us all the time. Thank you Lupita for the wonderful memories and the yummy cake. Here is the recipe:

Flan

1 can sweetened and condensed milk

1 can evaporated milk

3 eggs

Cake

1 box cake mix with the ingredients the box calls for (pick whatever flavor you like; my favorite is strawberry, but the one in the picture is lemon)

• Combine all the ingredients for the flan. Put this in a well-greased bundt pan first.
• Prepare the cake by mixing all the ingredients together and pour this carefully in to the bundt pan over the flan mixture.
• Bake for 45 minutes at 350F
• Clean out your ev. mild and sw. and cond. milk cans and fill 3/4 of the way with water. Place these on either side of your cake while it is cooking (keeps the cake very moist).
• Place pan on a cooling rack to cool.
• Carefully flip cake onto a serving place after at least 10 minutes of cooling.

The flan ends up on the top of your cake. It tastes really good with Cajeta sauce drizzled over it (look in the Mexican food section of your grocery store). If you can't find that then a carmel or chocolate sauce will work, depending on the flavor of your cake and what sounds good to you.